Rutherford Falls and Grappling With The Past
The moral case for knowing where you came from and coming to terms with it.
All of us have a past.
Whether it's what happened in the last few minutes, day, month, year or decade, most of us remember some aspect of it. Even more than that though, our own histories are based in part on the history of others. People who came before you in order to bring you into existence. Similarly, those people were brought about by others that also have a past. For a lot of people this can go back not just decades but centuries. Your family history has so much to teach you about where you come from and what kind of events lead up to you coming into being. The people you meet also have such a history, some shorter, others longer and some don't really know their history.
In learning about that history, you can understand the type of person your family used to be. The actions they took and how that does or doesn't impact you. Not to mention how other people's histories affected yours. To some extent, it might be a good idea to talk to those who are here now about the ways in which their history impacted you. Maybe you could even resolve some of the old conflicts that existed between different families. Find a way to move forward from these problems in a constructive and ultimately beneficial manner. At least so long as whoever you're talking to actually wants to deal with it.
They might not want to deal with it or could find that our own histories are more complicated than that. It could be that the reason why things were done by your family have to do with things that were done to them. All of it can feel like a complicated mess of connected stories which could be hard to untangle. Especially because many if not all of them who did these things have long since passed on. There's only so much that you can deal with it in the present, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.
Rutherford Falls is very much about the complication of trying to deal with the past. Nathan Rutherford, as played brilliantly by Ed Helms, is someone who is obsessed with the past and what happened in it. His interest in it goes so far that it actually puts off a lot of the people around him. Despite this, he can't simply let it go and live like a normal person. Yet when he finds out that the history he believed in isn't as obvious as he might think, it's incredibly difficult to handle. The fact that he has dedicated his life to a history which has a lot of problems is a painful thing.
Some of the people who were part of that more complicated history want to resolve the problems. But as a result, it will destroy his own family history and undermine the solid foundation on which his life has been based. He has no other choice in the matter.
It's a fascinating process and important to grapple with yourself. Do yourself a favour and check it out as soon as you can.
You can watch Rutherford Falls on Peacock and Amazon.